Blueprint vs Calligram

ブループリント / カリグラム

Blueprint comes from Technical Expression and Calligram from Lettering. One is style and the other technique. They are reached for with different intent, which is the fastest way to tell them apart.

Blueprint

Blueprint — 青写真による銃弾の設計図 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainBlueprint — University Bridge の青写真 1915, シアトル — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0Blueprint — ブザンソン大聖堂の平面図 1882, フランス国立文書館 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Instead of a finished object it shows the lines of the thinking behind it, communicating structure and possibility.

Calligram

Calligram — Guillaume Apollinaire, Il pleut, 1918 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCalligram — アポリネール カリグラム『エッフェル塔』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainCalligram — アポリネール『刺された鳩と噴水』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Arranges words into the shape of what they say, so that reading and seeing happen in the same moment.

BlueprintCalligram
Eraindustrialantiquity–modernism
FamilyTechnical ExpressionLettering
KindStyleTechnique
CuesWhite lines on blue / Dimensions / Sections / Handwritten notesText drawing a contour / Shifting reading direction / Meaningful blank space / Poem fused with figure
Best used forVisualizing concepts, design and process · Structural credibility for products and architectureMaking a short poem or title physically felt · A symbolic image from letters alone
TypeMonospace plus drafting-style handwritingOne face or one hand, keeping the words continuous
CompositionOrthographic views, sections, dimension lines tied to real informationConvert the sentence into contour, path and density; mark where reading begins
MaterialDeep blue, white lines, fine paper grainLetter and paper as two colors; the shape itself is the star
CautionNo fake drawings as decoration. Bind everything to actual structure and thought.Don't fix a silhouette first and stuff words in. Let the text's rhythm generate the form.

Put these two together

Technical Expression ／ Lettering

IndexStyle